Atheist Nexus2018-03-20T02:39:39ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMillerhttp://api.ning.com:80/files/CBmxoRc1CkdAi9UMJeyV2GOqWSJiut78dn1QJ0QC2T9jW0yMb35bzp6SiNfMr2Z28zApvqCIP*LEbjF4ASY2qh9R8FR8VMrU/1226265525.jpeg?xgip=80%3A0%3A478%3A478%3B%3B&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://atheistnexus.org/group/feministatheists/forum/topic/listForContributor?groupUrl=feministatheists&user=07clp53dwv4t7&feed=yes&xn_auth=noIs Sexism Destroying the Atheist Movement?tag:atheistnexus.org,2018-03-05:2182797:Topic:27932222018-03-05T18:07:55.539ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/gender/atheists-metoo-might-be-too-little-too-late" rel="noopener" target="_blank">For Atheists, #MeToo Might Be Too Little, Too Late</a></p>
<p>Amanda Marcotte lays out the anti-feminist bias hobbling our Atheist community. Speaking of feminist activists in our community, she says,</p>
<blockquote><span>For years, these activists told Salon, they've been agitating against sexual harassment in the community and trying to expose the abusive behaviors of many…</span></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/gender/atheists-metoo-might-be-too-little-too-late" target="_blank" rel="noopener">For Atheists, #MeToo Might Be Too Little, Too Late</a></p>
<p>Amanda Marcotte lays out the anti-feminist bias hobbling our Atheist community. Speaking of feminist activists in our community, she says,</p>
<blockquote><span>For years, these activists told Salon, they've been agitating against sexual harassment in the community and trying to expose the abusive behaviors of many prominent figures. For their efforts, they have been harassed, demoralized and often shunned — while the accused, including Krauss, continue to enjoy honored status in the community.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote><span>The women expected a positive reception for these gentle requests for basic respect, but Zvan said, "What happened instead was a massive backlash, and frankly, eventually, a pretty successful one."</span></blockquote>
<blockquote><span>"There was a big rise of people who decided that wasn’t good and that feminism was bad and that they had to harass women," explained Monette Richards, the president of Secular Woman, which was created in large part as a response to the hostility that feminists were experiencing.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote><span>Richards called it the "Great Rift,"...</span></blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/sites/default/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/screen_shot_2018-03-04_at_2.15.43_pm.png?itok=LKnPs22q" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://www.alternet.org/sites/default/files/styles/story_image/public/story_images/screen_shot_2018-03-04_at_2.15.43_pm.png?itok=LKnPs22q" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<blockquote><p>A massive harassment campaign formed, organized primarily through a forum called the <a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Slymepit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Slymepit</a>, targeting anyone who spoke up against harassment or for feminism with <a href="https://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/10/sexism_in_the_skeptic_community_i_spoke_out_then_came_the_rape_threats.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a barrage of online abuse</a>. It was, in many ways, a precursor not just to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gamergate</a>, but to the army of Donald Trump-loving alt-right trolls on social media that followed. They employed the now-familiar tactics of dogpiling on Twitter, creating photoshopped memes to mock their targets, doxxing and ruining people's Google search results to make them unemployable.</p>
<p>But while that was terrible enough, what was really upsetting was the lack of support from institutional atheism and, in many cases, leaders exhibiting outright complicity with the harassment.</p>
<p><span>Scientist Jen McCreight mentioned, at the first Women in Secularism conference, that there was a whisper network of women warning each other about the men who were creeps in the movement. For her effort, online harassers drummed her out of the movement.</span></p>
<p><span>“There are a bunch of women who left entirely," Richards said. “I’ve seen a lot of women, especially, leave to go work with UU churches and stuff, because they would rather work with the faithful who aren’t jerks about harassment than they would be in a movement that condones harassing."</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>I feel as if Atheist Nexus isn't poisoned by sexism. At least not much. What do you think?</p> How Does the Right Muster So Much Rage against the Poor?tag:atheistnexus.org,2018-01-05:2182797:Topic:27879582018-01-05T15:32:26.890ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><i>The industrial revolution that was shaping itself in the Victorian age saw the enterprising, but also the unscrupulous, take advantage of the underprivileged, the resourceless, the ignorant, the unprotected — in a word, the unfit.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: right;">— Immanuel Velikovsky, in his <em>Mankind in Amnesia</em></p>
<p>While precinct walking prior to an election, I heard some of that rage from lower class white folks who had recently escaped from poverty. I understood it as…</p>
<p><i>The industrial revolution that was shaping itself in the Victorian age saw the enterprising, but also the unscrupulous, take advantage of the underprivileged, the resourceless, the ignorant, the unprotected — in a word, the unfit.</i></p>
<p style="text-align: right;">— Immanuel Velikovsky, in his <em>Mankind in Amnesia</em></p>
<p>While precinct walking prior to an election, I heard some of that rage from lower class white folks who had recently escaped from poverty. I understood it as one way to keep themselves from falling back into poverty.</p> Self Respecttag:atheistnexus.org,2017-12-08:2182797:Topic:27821592017-12-08T06:15:26.440ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/12/07/what-is-the-secret-to-being-more-assertive-having-self-respect/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">What is the secret to being more assertive? Having self respect</a></p>
<p>German researcher <span>Daniela Renger identifies self respect as essential for assertiveness.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/gettyimages-172982903.jpg?w=845" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/gettyimages-172982903.jpg?w=845&amp;width=300" width="300"></img></a></span></p>
<p>Getty…</p>
<p><a href="https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/12/07/what-is-the-secret-to-being-more-assertive-having-self-respect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is the secret to being more assertive? Having self respect</a></p>
<p>German researcher <span>Daniela Renger identifies self respect as essential for assertiveness.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/gettyimages-172982903.jpg?w=845" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/gettyimages-172982903.jpg?w=845&amp;width=300" width="300" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
<p>Getty images, not Dr. Renger's image</p>
<p></p>
<blockquote><p>For her studies, Renger devised a new, four-item self-report measure of self-respect. Participants rated their strength of agreement with:</p>
<ul>
<li>In everyday life I always see myself as a person with equal rights</li>
<li>I always see myself as a person of equal worth compared with other people in my life</li>
<li>I am always aware that I have the same dignity as all other human beings</li>
<li>If I look at myself, I see a person who is equally worthy compared with others</li>
</ul>
<p><span><a href="https://researchdigest.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/gettyimages-172982903.jpg?w=845" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></span></p>
<p>... Renger concluded that self-competence, self-confidence and self-respect are distinct aspects of the self-concept. Also, while all three factors correlated with assertiveness, only self-respect had a unique association with assertiveness when accounting for the other two factors.</p>
</blockquote> Andy Borowitz Hoottag:atheistnexus.org,2017-11-15:2182797:Topic:27792732017-11-15T21:41:22.283ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-warns-that-dumping-roy-moore-could-start-a-dangerous-trend-of-believing-women" target="_blank">Trump Warns That Dumping Roy Moore Could Start a Dangerous Trend of Believing Women</a></p>
<p>You've got a laugh coming.</p>
<blockquote><p><span>Breaking his silence on Alabama’s embattled Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that dumping Roy Moore could start a “dangerous trend” of believing…</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-warns-that-dumping-roy-moore-could-start-a-dangerous-trend-of-believing-women" target="_blank">Trump Warns That Dumping Roy Moore Could Start a Dangerous Trend of Believing Women</a></p>
<p>You've got a laugh coming.</p>
<blockquote><p><span>Breaking his silence on Alabama’s embattled Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that dumping Roy Moore could start a “dangerous trend” of believing women.</span></p>
<p><span><span>Trump cautioned that, if instituted, a new practice of believing women would “totally destroy” the system that the country already has in place.</span></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span><span>Read it all, for a well-deserved break.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTrGVnhyGVs/Tyq5b2wb-9I/AAAAAAAAB8o/hJO7p4sYHOo/s320/3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QTrGVnhyGVs/Tyq5b2wb-9I/AAAAAAAAB8o/hJO7p4sYHOo/s320/3.jpg?width=400" width="400" class="align-center"/></a><a href="http://misstraceynolan.blogspot.com/2012/02/women-laughing-together-with-coffee.html" target="_blank">image source</a><br/></span></span></p>
<p></p> Mass Shooters Usually Men Targeting Womentag:atheistnexus.org,2017-11-08:2182797:Topic:27783172017-11-08T21:10:21.554ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mass-shootings-and-domestic-violence" target="_blank">The Obvious Connection of Mass Shootings and Men Acting Out Rage Against Women</a></p>
<p>Domestic abusers "graduate" to mass murder in typical mass shooter cases.</p>
<blockquote><p>Despite the mass murders of strangers that grab the most headlines, the grim reality is that <span style="background: yellow;">one of the most common reasons that mass shooters go off is they are angry at…</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/mass-shootings-and-domestic-violence" target="_blank">The Obvious Connection of Mass Shootings and Men Acting Out Rage Against Women</a></p>
<p>Domestic abusers "graduate" to mass murder in typical mass shooter cases.</p>
<blockquote><p>Despite the mass murders of strangers that grab the most headlines, the grim reality is that <span style="background: yellow;">one of the most common reasons that mass shooters go off is they are angry at losing control over a wife or girlfriend and decide to lash out violently</span>. Less than two months ago, eight people <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/09/16/male-entitlement-in-action-why-the-texas-shooting-is-a-gender-issue/?ref=hvper.com">were killed in a similar incident in Plano, Texas</a>, when a man decided to take out his anger on his ex-wife and her friends at a party.</p>
<p>Research conducted by <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/reports/mass-shootings-analysis/" target="_blank">Everytown for Gun Safety found that 54 percent of mass shootings</a> between 2009 and 2016 — defined as incidents in which four or more people besides the shooter are killed — involved the killing of a partner or at least one family member. </p>
<p>… <span style="background: yellow;">the typical mass shooting case is one where a man attacks a group of people in order to hurt or kill a female partner over whom he wants to exert or maintain control</span>. [emphasis mine]</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/jyGnEh0ogV8ce-v5QVtyAayVRj3Wz-1EBfogwdvTtrHxkaDLbmvCZWPIxRRDGyrNfxVxV5urONyyv3H985JPpyb27LpTD1rg/typicalmassmurder.jpg" target="_self"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/jyGnEh0ogV8ce-v5QVtyAayVRj3Wz-1EBfogwdvTtrHxkaDLbmvCZWPIxRRDGyrNfxVxV5urONyyv3H985JPpyb27LpTD1rg/typicalmassmurder.jpg" width="450" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://www.galorenews.com/2015/11/graphic-photos-domestic-violence-man.html" target="_blank">image source</a> (text mine)</p>
<blockquote><p>Every single day in this country, men are killing women — and often other people around those women — because they believe women owe them submission. These stories rarely make headlines, because domestic violence, while widely seen as unfortunate, is still understood as private and personal concern, not a political issue.</p>
<p>That attitude needs to change. <span style="background: yellow;">Domestic violence is political because the ideology that drives it -- that men are superior to women and have the right to control and dominate them -- is political.</span> It's an attitude that manifests itself regularly in our legislative and judicial politics. It's the attitude that drives the war on reproductive rights.</p>
<p>We don't treat domestic-violence murders the way we treat terrorism, but maybe we should. <span style="background: yellow;">Abusers are terrorists in their own homes</span>, lashing out violently against their partners and other family members periodically to keep them in their place. [emphasis mine]</p>
</blockquote> Abortion Access in Missouri Is Getting Easier, Thanks to Planned Parenthood and Satanists ( Christina Cauterucci - Slate.com)tag:atheistnexus.org,2017-09-16:2182797:Topic:27678892017-09-16T12:30:13.026ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p>Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Abortion access in Missouri is booming. Until this month, the state had only one abortion provider—a Planned Parenthood health center in St. Louis. On Monday, the organization announced that its clinic in Kansas City is now offering medication abortion. Its Columbia outpost will soon offer surgical abortions, too, and two others will likely follow ...<br></br> <br></br> ... Missouri’s recent stroke of good fortune in the reproductive rights realm may have…</p>
<p>Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write: Abortion access in Missouri is booming. Until this month, the state had only one abortion provider—a Planned Parenthood health center in St. Louis. On Monday, the organization announced that its clinic in Kansas City is now offering medication abortion. Its Columbia outpost will soon offer surgical abortions, too, and two others will likely follow ...<br/> <br/> ... Missouri’s recent stroke of good fortune in the reproductive rights realm may have to do with intervention from the fiery underworld. On Monday, the Satanic Temple argued in a Missouri court that the state’s abortion restrictions violate worshippers’ rights to free religious practice. The organization is challenging two Missouri laws: one that requires patients to look at unscientific anti-abortion propaganda and another that forces them to wait 72 hours between their initial consultations and a second appointments for their abortions. Satanic Temple members argue that their religion prizes rational, independent thought and that forcing Satanists to read anti-abortion pamphlets and “consider a religious proposition with which they do not agree” during the 72-hour waiting period constitutes a violation of their beliefs.<br/><br/>Read the <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/09/12/abortion_access_in_missouri_is_getting_easier_thanks_to_planned_parenthood.html" target="_blank">rest</a> here.<br/><br/><br/>====================================<br/><br/><br/>I had to reread the headline on this article twice before it sunk in. Gang, the Satanists are WITH US!!! Actually, that's not much of a news bulletin for anyone who's been paying attention. While some politicians have argued that freedom OF religion does not include the concept of freedom FROM religion, they can't get around the fact that the Satanists ARE a religion, albeit radically different from the fundamentalist Christianity to which they are used. Satanists are about individual rights, autonomy, and skepticism, concepts which are largely foreign to modern-day Christers, and they have used that leverage in Missouri to force state legislatures into compliance with the spirit of <em>Roe v Wade</em> in the courts.<br/><br/>This is one hell of a masterstroke from where I sit, and here's why: the Satanists LIVE in Missouri and therefore have standing. They are a for-real church, 501(c)(3) and all, and unlike the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Pink Unicorn, they are <strong>DEAD SERIOUS</strong>. They have gone head-to-head with the anti-abortionists and soundly defeated them, using a church which is as much humanist as it is Satanist. And if it can happen in Missouri, any other state where Satanists practice is fair game.<br/><br/>The old saw says sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Could it be that, in some cases, we need to fight religion with religion?</p> Men's Rights is White Supremacy Gatewaytag:atheistnexus.org,2017-08-20:2182797:Topic:27617432017-08-20T22:03:40.488ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/documentaries/course-weeping-nazi-chris-cantwell-started-mens-rights-activist" target="_blank">Of Course, Weeping Nazi Chris Cantwell Started as a 'Men's Rights' Activist</a></p>
<p>Amanda Marcotte argues that "<span>the world of online anti-feminism has become a gateway to white supremacy." In this horrible age of feminism, <span>liberated women date whomever they want and leave bad <span>marriages</span>. It's so hard for entitled misogynists to get and…</span></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.alternet.org/documentaries/course-weeping-nazi-chris-cantwell-started-mens-rights-activist" target="_blank">Of Course, Weeping Nazi Chris Cantwell Started as a 'Men's Rights' Activist</a></p>
<p>Amanda Marcotte argues that "<span>the world of online anti-feminism has become a gateway to white supremacy." In this horrible age of feminism, <span>liberated women date whomever they want and leave bad <span>marriages</span>. It's so hard for entitled misogynists to get and control the submissive female partners that they need to boost their egos.</span></span></p>
<p><span><span><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/MqjGW5HN0wczPT8lzecMzngWtRV9zH37JTZr704M*0N*OxJsc9x738nGqFH1GTd7Xrujg*s9mn9Oxaku4ytMNFy09KIgUzPs/whiteguysuffers.jpg" target="_self"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/MqjGW5HN0wczPT8lzecMzngWtRV9zH37JTZr704M*0N*OxJsc9x738nGqFH1GTd7Xrujg*s9mn9Oxaku4ytMNFy09KIgUzPs/whiteguysuffers.jpg" width="310" class="align-center"/></a>image source: <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=images&amp;cd=&amp;cad=rja&amp;uact=8&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjyxtuQ5ebVAhXn6IMKHZRgCUkQjxwIAw&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pictaram.com%2Fmedia%2F1273071299353467189_20753413&amp;psig=AFQjCNFE2eaF552kq6Lslr4Mx1MZmgEpLA&amp;ust=1503352056737032" target="_blank">Pepe</a>, Cantwell (the article), text mine</span></span></p>
<blockquote><p>... the world of online anti-feminism has become a gateway to white supremacy. While there hasn’t been any rigid academic analysis of this phenomenon, sites like We Hunted the Mammoth, which started as a way to monitor the various and overlapping worlds of online misogyny, have tracked that when men get together to gripe about their resentment of women’s growing independence, they often start drifting toward talking about “white genocide” and other white supremacist ideas.</p>
<p>The world of online misogynists is a complex maze. Some of the communities are geared towards older, divorced men. Some are “pick-up artist” sites, geared towards younger men who think they aren’t getting the female attention they believe they’re due. Some identify as “men going their own way,” which is to say giving up on women altogether. But what brings them together is anger over the fact that feminism has liberated women to date whomever they wish and leave marriages that aren’t working. This makes it much harder, in the “men’s rights” misogynist view, for men to acquire or keep the submissive female partners they feel entitled to.</p>
<p>Why hating women would lead so many men to hating nonwhite people is difficult to parse in logical terms. But racism and sexism aren’t rational ideologies and really aren’t bound by the basic rules of logic. At the root of both lies <span style="background: yellow;">a thwarted sense of entitlement</span> and a sense that women and people of color are somehow stealing what is the white man’s due. [emphasis mine]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We already know that online trolls were the early nucleus of the resurgent hate.</p>
<p></p> Kicked out of non-partisan female political groupstag:atheistnexus.org,2017-07-12:2182797:Topic:27555892017-07-12T15:24:11.078ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p>Hello everyone.</p>
<p></p>
<p>There have been a couple times where I have joined Facebook non-partisan female political/atheist groups and was banned without notice upon revealing my conservative views. These groups did not have specific political angles like "Liberal Female Politics," they had general non-partisan angles like "Real Women Talking Politics." They also had no rules which means fair game in posting content.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I encourage administrators and leaders of any…</p>
<p>Hello everyone.</p>
<p></p>
<p>There have been a couple times where I have joined Facebook non-partisan female political/atheist groups and was banned without notice upon revealing my conservative views. These groups did not have specific political angles like "Liberal Female Politics," they had general non-partisan angles like "Real Women Talking Politics." They also had no rules which means fair game in posting content.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I encourage administrators and leaders of any non-partisan female political group to be considerate of women with conservative views. If those views are not permitted then specify the political angle of the group in the name. The same can be said for atheist groups. This is ideal for the advancement of women collaborating together, rather than creating fractures in "feminism".</p> Autocratic Carbonites versus Democratic Greenstag:atheistnexus.org,2017-06-15:2182797:Topic:27523712017-06-15T21:00:54.967ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p>Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies, says that what appears to be this administration’s unprecedented level of foreign policy dysfunction and lack of strategic vision actually <b>makes sense as Donald Trump moving to obliterate the existing world order and to lay the foundations for a new one - a world in which fossil-fuel powers will contend for supremacy</b> with post-carbon, green-energy states. Abandoning the soft power of NATO and other alliances, he appears…</p>
<p>Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies, says that what appears to be this administration’s unprecedented level of foreign policy dysfunction and lack of strategic vision actually <b>makes sense as Donald Trump moving to obliterate the existing world order and to lay the foundations for a new one - a world in which fossil-fuel powers will contend for supremacy</b> with post-carbon, green-energy states. Abandoning the soft power of NATO and other alliances, he appears to seek a hard power petro-state alliance with Saudi Arabia and Russia. Rejecting the Paris Accords, taking sides with Saudi Arabia, and full throttle fossil fuel development fit this hypothesis. He says, “... the world will soon be divided into two camps, each competing for power, wealth, and influence: the carbonites on one side and the post-carbon greens on the other.” See: <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176294/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_%22the_battle_lines_of_the_future%22/" target="_blank">Tomgram: Michael Klare, "The Battle Lines of the Future"</a></p>
<p>Reading about Sweden's new law to go carbon neutral by 2045, I was struck by the role of gender in this possible petrostate-autocracies versus post-carbon-greens power struggle.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.climatechangenews.com/files/2017/02/lovin-e1486138398481.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.climatechangenews.com/files/2017/02/lovin-e1486138398481.jpg" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/06/15/sweden-passes-climate-law-become-carbon-neutral-2045/" target="_blank">Sweden passes climate law to become carbon neutral by 2045</a></p>
<p>in comparison to Team Trump.</p>
<p><a href="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://www.corbettreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/trumpcabinet.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://www.corbettreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/trumpcabinet.jpg" class="align-center"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://steemit.com/trump/@corbettreport/meet-team-trump" target="_blank">Meet Team Trump</a></p> Testosterone has negative correlation with cognitive reflectiontag:atheistnexus.org,2017-05-01:2182797:Topic:27467592017-05-01T02:58:40.730ZLoren Millerhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/LorenMiller
<p>Down side of testosterone:</p>
<blockquote><p><span>Sex hormone connected with greater reliance on gut instincts and less self-reflection</span></p>
<p>... <span> the hypothesis that higher levels of testosterone increase the tendency in men to rely on their intuitive judgments and reduce cognitive reflection—a decision-making process by which a person stops to consider whether their gut reaction to something makes sense. The researchers found that men given doses of testosterone performed…</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Down side of testosterone:</p>
<blockquote><p><span>Sex hormone connected with greater reliance on gut instincts and less self-reflection</span></p>
<p>... <span> the hypothesis that higher levels of testosterone increase the tendency in men to rely on their intuitive judgments and reduce cognitive reflection—a decision-making process by which a person stops to consider whether their gut reaction to something makes sense. The researchers found that men given doses of testosterone performed more poorly on a test designed to measure cognitive reflection than a group given a placebo.</span></p>
<p><span>"What we found was the testosterone group was quicker to make snap judgments on brain teasers where your initial guess is usually wrong,"... </span></p>
<p><span><span> "The testosterone is either inhibiting the process of mentally checking your work or increasing the intuitive feeling that 'I'm definitely right.'"</span></span></p>
<p><span>... <span> the cognitive reflection test ...</span></span></p>
<p><span>... <span> the group that received testosterone scored significantly lower than the group that received the placebo, on average answering 20 percent fewer questions correctly. The testosterone group also "gave incorrect answers more quickly, and correct answers more slowly than the placebo group," the authors write. The same effect was not seen in the results of the basic math tests administered to both groups. The results "demonstrate a clear and robust causal effect of [testosterone] on human cognition and decision-making," they conclude.</span>The results "demonstrate a clear and robust causal effect of [testosterone] on human cognition and decision-making."</span></p>
<p>The researchers believe that the phenomenon they've observed can be linked to testosterone's effect of increasing confidence in humans. Testosterone is thought to generally enhance the male drive for social status, and recent studies have shown that confidence enhances status.</p>
<p>"We think it works through confidence enhancement. If you're more confident, you'll feel like you're right and will not have enough self-doubt to correct mistakes," Camerer says.</p>
<p>Camerer says the results of the study raise questions about potential negative effects of the growing testosterone-replacement therapy industry,...</p>
<p><span>"If men want more testosterone to increase sex drive, are there other effects? Do these men become too mentally bold and thinking they know things they don't?"</span></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.caltech.edu/news/testosterone-makes-men-less-likely-question-their-impulses-55864" target="_blank">Testosterone Makes Men Less Likely to Question Their Impulses</a></p>
<p><a href="http://api.ning.com:80/files/71YnQ72DkqjA2eOUyOojNbFH5V30IV7bqWvXqxqcFqGtgKOyoMouvKSc4E1j0j88b8byxGCjdmV8fyRSZjDQg1TEDupfbjDG/Iknowthat.jpg" target="_self"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/71YnQ72DkqjA2eOUyOojNbFH5V30IV7bqWvXqxqcFqGtgKOyoMouvKSc4E1j0j88b8byxGCjdmV8fyRSZjDQg1TEDupfbjDG/Iknowthat.jpg" width="400" class="align-center"/></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s5UY6YulWIQ/T7w3Z4fqOAI/AAAAAAAAAAs/oRf45LOnJfA/s1600/Jay-Cutler-%20bodybuilder-7.jpg" target="_blank">image source</a> (caption mine)</p>
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